Reagan Begins Library Tours With Laughs : Presidency: The ‘Great Communicator’ will lead weekend ceremonies before it opens to the public Wednesday.

Former President Ronald Reagan, in a short speech punctuated by jokes, welcomed a polite crowd of reporters on Friday to tour his presidential library and museum, which he said “records the astonishingly peaceful end of the Cold War.”

Reagan’s remarks began a series of special invitation tours of the library before it opens to the public on Wednesday. Today, Reagan will lead several hundred major financial contributors through the library and about 1,500 former Reagan aides and campaign workers on Sunday.

Reagan and possibly as many as four other U.S. Presidents will officially dedicate the library on Monday.

After a wobbly start to his remarks on Friday, the 80-year-old former President, once known as “the Great Communicator,” delivered a series of jokes poking fun at himself and his presidency.

“I like to meet with the press every decade or so,” Reagan said, typical of the self-deprecating humor of a President infamous among reporters for holding infrequent news conferences. He suggested revving up the White House helicopter so he could again pretend not to hear questions shouted by reporters.

“Our doors are always open for your research and browsing,” Reagan said. “Or you can save the time and buy my autobiography.”

Reagan called attention to the graffiti-covered slab of the Berlin Wall mounted on the west patio of the library.

“Does that 6,000-pound chunk of stone wall remind you of my press conferences?” the former President asked. “Actually, it is a piece of the Berlin Wall, and I bench press it daily in lieu of chopping wood.

“In all seriousness, I never thought I would see the day that the Berlin Wall would be distributed all over the world,” he said. “It is concrete proof that the human spirit broken down by Communism finally broke free.”

Reagan did not mention that dime-sized fragments of the Berlin Wall are on sale in the library’s gift shop for $4.50 apiece.

Yet, the hottest-selling items Friday among journalists were special-edition Ronald Reagan yo-yos, complete with his signature and presidential seal.

Although Reagan’s staff barred cameras and tape recorders, his aides and National Archives staff escorted more than 100 reporters through the library that celebrates his life and presidency.

Pictures, films and audio tapes tell the story of Reagan’s rise from small-town boy in Illinois to Hollywood actor to President.

Scant attention is given to controversies of the Reagan White House, such as the rise of the federal deficit and the Iran-Contra affair.

A handful of newspaper clippings tell of the scandal that shook the Reagan Administration.

The gallery that chronicles Reagan’s presidency climaxes with an emotional film on three screens that seems to credit him with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.

The Reagan library also holds 47 million pages of White House documents, a number that will grow to more than 55 million pages if his former associates donate their personal papers as expected.

“I must confess that the material goes back a long way, but then, so do I,” said Reagan, his hair now streaked with gray.

He said he is delighted that the library is filled with so many documents.

“I was saddened to learn there isn’t enough room for books written by my former aides.”

Retired Lt. Col. Oliver L. North is the latest in a string of former Reagan aides who have written books critical of their former boss. He released a book last month accusing Reagan of knowing the details of the Iran-Contra affair before it became a public scandal. Reagan has said he never knew.